Clara let out a sigh of relief as Danny picked up her call. "Danny!" She reacted, moving around her living room. "Where are you?"
"I'll be there in a couple of minutes, so," he stops for a moment. "How's the kitchen?"
"Did he just ask about the kitchen?" Claudia asked suspiciously from Clara's kitchen.
"Nope," Clara replied quickly. "You're doing great, Clau! Keep going!"
Danny chuckles. "Still teaching her with that souffé of yours?"
"My soufflé is the best!"
"Tell that to the principal after last week's incident."
Clara rolls her eyes, recalling the disaster Claudia and the kids had created. It was nothing terrible, really. They just want to celebrate the return of Maebh's sister after went missing for so long, knowing how happy Maebh becomes. Ruby suggested that everyone make a large cake for Annabell in their school's kitchen set.
What happened next gave everyone, including Clara and Danny, into hysterical situations.
The entire kitchen was set on fire.
Like, a big fire.
How on earth that can happen, no one knows for sure. Even Claudia, their supervisor with the event, had no idea who set the fire. But after that, Claudia got suspended from teaching the kids, which irritates her so much, she wants to prove that she can be responsible by making a simple soufflé and having Danny as their tester.
Danny happily obliged with her weird declaration. After with Orient Express, Claudia decided to have another conversation with Danny. It was tense and awkward at first, but after a while, they became good partners. There are some arguments here and there, like when the whole forest appeared in one day, but not as intense during the Blitz incident.
Clara feels immense glad that Danny and Claudia have nice and non-intense conversations.
"Just make sure she doesn't set your kitchen on fire," Danny playfully hoped.
"I hear that!" Claudia shouted. "I'll have you know, Danny, making a soufflé is nothing compared with fighting that annoying Blitz!"
Clara had to bite her lips as Danny laughed on the other side. They know she's capable of being a great soldier and defender but as a chef? Oh, she was terrible. The image of Adrian vomiting her sushi that she made replaying in the brunette's mind. "Well, I'm glad you think like that, Clau."
"Oh, don't make me start, Oswald," the brunette grumbled.
"I'm bringing a small plastic bag, in case something disaster happens," Danny added with laughs.
Clara smirks. "Bring me one too," she told him, purposely making her voice louder.
"Hahaha."
Suddenly, she hears a car and some shouts on the phone. "Danny?" She called. No response. "Danny?"
"Hello?" A woman responded, crying. "Hello, is someone there?"
"Hello? Er, yeah. Who's this?"
"I just picked up the phone, I'm sorry. I found it."
Claudia exits the kitchen, still wearing a blue apron that she bought for her birthday. "What's going on?" She whispered.
"Don't know," Clara replied, confused. "Oh. Er, okay. Er, can you please just put me back on the phone to Danny? I was talking to Danny."
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Clara finds her left-hand clasping into Claudia's. "Okay, er, what are you sorry about?" She asked again, now frantic. "Could you please just pass the phone back to..."
"He was crossing the road," the woman continued, crying louder. "I found the phone, it must have just got thrown. The car, it just came out of nowhere. I'm so sorry..."
Like in sync, Claudia and Clara run along the street. They follow some sirens and police cars, hoping that the news isn't real, that Danny is fine, that the accident doesn't have anything to do with their math teacher at Coal Hill...
But the moment they find Danny's body being carried into an ambulance and a woman with the same voice from the call approaches them with absolute pain, they know their hope becomes meaningless.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
The Doctor and Arthur quietly listen to Claudia's story inside the Tardis.
"It was my fault," she finished.
"No," the Doctor disagreed. "Claudia, what happened to PE wasn't your fault..."
"But it was! I was the one who invited him! I was the one who suggested our meeting! It was all my idea!" She wept and sniffed. It was so rare for Arthur to witness how much pain Claudia is. She is always strong and independent. Her being lost is just so out of her. "I killed Clara's boyfriend."
"Don't say that," Clara's voice interrupted. "Don't you ever say that or think like that."
"But..."
"No 'but'. Come here."
The call ends abruptly.
"What can we do?" Arthur asked the Doctor, feeling more dread than ever.
"I don't know, Sunny," the Doctor admitted, gently holding his shoulder, lost like him. He may have issues with PE, but that doesn't mean he wants Danny Pink to die. He looks around the console before speaking, "hell."
The blonde boy was confused. "What?"
But the Doctor spins around the console, presses and pulls some buttons. "Worth to check," he simply addressed.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"So, let me get this right," Clara responded as she, Claudia, Arthur, and the Doctor stood inside the console room. "You'd think... Danny is still alive?"
"Well, not exactly," the Doctor clarified. "But maybe we can navigate what happens to him."
"Eh, how?" Claudia cannot help but ask that. "I mean, you can't possibly think an afterlife exists, right?"
"What did Arthur say during the Blitz incident? About Danny?"
Okay, now this is just getting more confusing. "What?" Arthur frowns.
"Future Arthur?" Clara guessed. "Eh, he said," her eyes wide open. "'You will see him again, even when the impossible happens.'" She stares at Claudia and the Doctor. "You mean..."
"He meant this," Claudia realized, gripping her wrist together. "My words, he's so sneaky!" She looks at Arthur sheepishly. "I mean older you, not this you."
"Gee, thanks," Arthur deadpanned.
"Considering who her mother is, can you blame him?" The Doctor raises his eyebrow as he puts down Clara's hands into the Tardis telepathic interface. "Now, think about Danny. Think about the man you lost. Let it hurt. Let it burn. But don't bleat. Don't ask, 'why him? Why me?' Forget all that. Ask one question. Just one. Ask, 'where is Danny Pink now? Where is he now?'"
Clara nods and closes her eyes. The Tardis shakes for a brief moment before they hear a soft hum.
"We've already arrived?" Arthur frowns. "That's fast."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
The Tardis has parked herself in a dark place. Both the Doctor and Claudia shine a torch on a small obelisk with the Company logo on it in gold and the words 'Rest In Peace, We Promise' carved into the granite.
"Fish tanks?" Clara pointed out.
"In a mausoleum?" Claudia asked back, feeling strange.
They go up the steps, spotting an urn that has the logo and motto on it.
"What does that mean?" Clara wondered.
The Doctor holds Arthur much closer. "It means those are definitely not fish tanks."
They turn right at the urn and enter some sort of gallery. Inside, they can see all the tanks containing a skeleton sitting on a chair.
Arthur grimaced. "Why would…?"
"I don't know, Sunny."
"Okay, I'm assuming they didn't actually drown in there," Clara guessed.
"No. They were placed after death. These are tombs. Water tombs, some sort of fluid, anyway."
"With chairs, apparently," Claudia mumbled, finding a name under each tank. Yep, not creepy at all.
"Is that why the Tardis brought us here?" Clara asked, now scared. "I don't want to see him like that."
"Good point," the Doctor agreed. "Tombs with windows. Who wants to watch their loved ones rot? Why would anyone go to so much trouble just to keep watch on the dead?"
Arthur quietly walked around in front first. "Look!" He called others, pointing at a small book on a lectern. The boy opens his fingers across a blank page and a cube rises out of it. He pushes it into the corridor and opens it. It displays that two-ring logo with 3W inside it while Bach's Air on a G String plays softly.
A voice speaks the words that then scroll down. "3W. Death is not an end. But we can help with that. Ever since 3W encountered the truth about the death experience, we have been working hard to find a better life for the deceased. At 3W, afterlife means aftercare."
"Okay," Clara responded. "Bit strange?"
"Very," Claudia remarked, looking precisely at the front. "Why have the scrolling and a voice? Wasting time, don't you think?"
The brunette looked around. "I don't follow."
Quietly, a woman with an Edwardian purple gown, walks at them, through the logo. She looks to be around 50, wearing a small fascinator on her head. "Hello. I hope you're well," she greeted with a Scottish accent. "How may I assist you with your death?"
"Well, there is, er, no immediate hurry. We're just, er. We're just…"
"Investigate," Arthur finished the Doctor's stuttering words, staring at the woman. There's something strange about her. Arthur knows he never met her before. Yet her presence felt… familiar.
"Is that so?" The woman tilted her head, giving an eerily smile. "Then please, take all the time you need. At 3W, you always have the rest of your life."
"What is 3W?" Claudia inquired, unable to hide her impatience with this woman.
"Apologies. Clearly, you have not received the official 3W greetings package."
"We don't need one, just get us to whoever's in charge here, Miss…"
"Missy," she introduced. "I am Missy."
"Missy?" Clara frowned.
"Mobile Intelligent Systems Interface. I am a multi-function, interactive welcome droid. Helping you to help me to help you."
"You're very realistic… for a robot," Arthur commented.
"I am fully programmed with social interaction norms appropriate to a range of visitors," Missy informed. For a moment, Arthur sensed a hint of panic in her voice. But that might be just his imagination. "Hence my realistic appearance."
"We need to speak to whoever's in charge here."
"I am in charge."
"Well, who's in charge of you?"
"I'm in charge of me."
"Well, who repairs you?" The Doctor pressed more, getting annoyed. "Who, who maintains you?"
"I am programmed for self-repair. I am maintained by my heart."
"Who maintains your heart?" Claudia asked this time.
She stares at the bluenette. "My heart is maintained by the Doctor."
"Doctor who?" The Doctor can't help but ask.
Claudia rolls her eyes. "Really? Even now?"
"Doctor Chang!" Missy suddenly shouted and walks away from them as a man walked toward them.
"Who's there?" He asked, looking at four of them. "Hello?"
"Hello," all four of them greeted.
"So. Hey. Condolences," Chang said.
"Condolences?" Clara frowned.
"It's a mausoleum. It's our hello," he added, gesturing to their surroundings. "Is there a particular dead person you want to talk to?"
"Yes!" Clara reacted quickly before keeping her voice calm. "Yes, there is."
"This way then."
"Are you okay?" Claudia asked her, taking her hand for comfort as all of them followed Chang.
Clara shook her head. "No."
"Good. There would be something very wrong if you were," the Doctor commented as he's leading Arthur in front.
None of them notices that Missy smiles at them. None… except Arthur, who glances at her with unease.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Come in, come in," Chang gestures to them to come inside his office. There's one big tank with a skeleton-like they saw before. "Going to need to take a reading off you."
While Arthur pokes at the tank with a curiosity of a child, the Doctor goes to take a look around, occasionally keeping an eye on the boy. Meanwhile, Clara and Claudia are standing next to each other in front of Chang. "Reading?" Clara repeated.
"Won't hurt," he assured her and flicked a switch.
"What won't?"
"How does the body keep its integrity?" The Doctor questioned. "Why isn't it just a bunch of bones floating about?"
"Each body is encased in a support exoskeleton."
"An invisible exoskeleton?" Claudia noted.
"It's only invisible in the water. There's a specially engineered refraction index in the fluid so we can see the tank resident unimpeded by the support mechanisms."
"So each skeleton… is inside something else?" Arthur realized before looking again at the skeleton, now in fascination as he and the Doctor slowly walked closer to Claudia and Clara.
"Are you serious? X-ray water?" Clara asked.
"It's so cool. Look at this. We call it dark water." Chang puts his arm into a sample jar of it. His wristwatch and jacket sleeve vanish. Arthur gasped, looking excited. "Only organic matter can be seen through it." He removes his arm and dries it off. "I keep saying they should use this stuff in swimming pools."
"Why?" The Doctor frowned.
"Think about it."
"I am thinking about it. Why?"
"Anyway," Claudia interrupted, her face reddening at the implication. "3W. What does it mean?"
"Well, you know, don't you?" Chang guessed. "You're here on business or they wouldn't have let you in." He stopped for a moment. "Sorry. Should have checked. Who are you?"
"I thought that you would never ask. Sort out your security protocols, they're a disgrace," the Doctor commented as he got out the psychic paper.
"Another government inspection? So soon?" He complained then checked the reading. "Why is there all this swearing?"
"Oh, I've got a lot of internalised anger," he remarked and put it back in his pocket before Arthur could see the swearing. "What does 3W stand for?"
"Well, the three words."
"What three words?" Arthur asked.
"I.. I don't think it's something a child should know."
"Listen," Claudia interjected, getting tired of this constant stalling. "Just answer our question. We don't care."
"Because people who don't know, when they hear about this, they can freak out."
"We're not most people, so just straight to the point," Clara commented.
"You know how people are scared of dying? Like, everybody."
"Of course. It's the most fundamental fear in the universe," the Doctor agreed.
"They'd be a lot more scared if they knew what it was really like." Chang activates the see-through computer screen on his desk. "White noise off the telly. We've all heard it. A few years ago, Doctor Skarosa, our founder, did something unexpected. He played that noise through a translation matrix of his own devising. This is a recording of what he heard."
A sound wave of multiple voices. Arthur frowned, able to detect some clear voices. None sounds fine.
"Okay, people, voices," Clara concluded. "So?"
"Over time, Doctor Skarosa became convinced these were the voices of the recently departed. He believed it was a telepathic communication from the dead."
The Doctor slowly glances at Claudia, Clara, and Arthur before asking, "Why? Was he an idiot?"
"He was able to isolate some of the voices, hear what they were saying."
"So, an idiot then."
"Hush!" Claudia nudged him as Chang turned off the recording.
Still calm, Chang continued, "What I'm about to play you will change your life and not for the better. These are the three words which caused Doctor Skarosa to set up institutes, like this one, all over the world, to protect the dead. If you'd rather not hear these words, there's still time…"
"Just turn it on already!" Claudia imparted with a huff.
Chang quietly turns on the voice. All of them can hear a man's cries, "Don't cremate me. Don't cremate me!"
"There is one simple, horrible possibility that has never occurred to anyone throughout human history."
"Don't say it," Clara begged.
"The dead remain conscious. The dead are fully aware of everything that is happening to them."
"Fakery," the Doctor replied. "All of it. It's a con, it's a racket!"
"I promise you this is not a con," Chang insisted as he stopped the voice.
Arthur rubbed his shoulder as he heard a beeping sound.
"What's that beeping?" Clara noticed as well.
"Never mind about beeping," the Doctor waves his hand. "Who cares about beeping? The dead are dead. They're not talking to you out of your television sets. They're just gone. And all these poor souls down there in these tanks, I'm sorry, but they're just dead and they're not coming back."
"Clara?" A strange voice spoke. The Doctor, Clara, and Claudia freeze. "Clara? Clara, are you there?"
"Danny!" Clara responded. "I can hear you. Is that you? Oh, please, say it's you."
"Just lost the signal," Chang said as he's pushing the device. "But I can track it back, I'm pretty sure."
"How is this possible?" Claudia pondered.
"We've been scanning you telepathically since you came in. You said you wanted to speak to someone who'd passed, and we've found you a match in the Nethersphere."
"This isn't possible. The dead don't come back," the Doctor argued.
"And yet, it was his voice," Claudia denoted, shocked as well.
"If they scanned you telepathically, they could've lifted a voice print. It could still be a fake."
"Getting him back, very nearly!" Chang informed.
"Clara, can you hear me?"
"Yes, Danny, I.. we can hear you. Can you hear us?"
"Yeah, yeah, I can hear you," Danny responded and both girls were relieved. "Wait… 'we'?"
"Hello, Mr. Pink," Claudia greeted.
"Oh my God, Claudia!? You're here?! He-He was right! I will meet you and Claudia again. I thought he was babbling nonsense like the Doctor–"
"He?" She repeated, tapping her foot, unease. Her brown eyes narrowed. "Mr. Pink, what do you mean by that?"
"Uhm… are you two alone? I promised him to only tell you when you two are alone. You and Clara."
"You," the Doctor pointed his finger at Chang as he was holding Arthur. "With us."
"Where are you going?" Clara asked.
"I've got to check out those tanks," the Doctor replied. "There's something that I'm missing. Who would harvest dead bodies?" He pondered as Arthur and Chang entered the elevator. "I feel like I'm missing something obvious, Sunny."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
As soon as they arrive back, the liquid on the tank starts to drain from the tanks.
"Oh, my God," Chang mumbled. "The tanks… The tanks are activating! They're not supposed to do that."
"And all the skeletons are standing," Arthur added, looking at the floor and making sure none of his shoes got wet.
"Now, now, children," Missy remarked. "Naughty, naughty."
"Doctor Chang, your welcome droid has developed a fault," the Doctor told him.
"That's not a droid. That's my boss," he replied.
"You know, I might have been guilty of a just teensy little fibette," Missy commented, not bothered by the Doctor and Arthur's shocking face. "Doctor Chang, I really liked working with you. I've enjoyed every day of it."
"I'm sorry?"
"You know, I've even got a little photograph of you looking so sweeeet. I'm always going to keep it. Always!"
"Are you going to kill me?"
"Now, come on. Let's not dwell on horrid things. This is going to be our last conversation, and I'm the one who's going to have to live with that."
"Please don't kill me," Chang begged.
"Get behind me," the Doctor suggested. Arthur complied, closing his eyes.
"Say something nice."
"Please, please. I don't, I don't want to die… You're going to kill me, aren't you?"
"Say something nice."
"Please!"
Missy rolls her eyes. "Doctor Chang, I've got all day. And I'm not going to kill you until you say. Something. Nice."
"I-It has been an absolute pleasure working with you, and I truly believe that you'll never be able to find it in your heart to murder me," Chang spoke with a small stutter.
But it meant nothing for Missy as she holds up a device that fires a heat ray, which incinerates Chang instantly. The Doctor backs away, notices how Arthur's hands cling to his legs.
"Now, I'll be with you two in a moment," she gestured at them before making a fake cry. "Just feeling a bit emotional at the moment."
The Doctor and Arthur look up at a tank and see the water level dropping below the top of a skeleton's head, to reveal a silver metal helmet. Arthur never saw them before, yet their hollow metal face scared him.
"Cybermen!" The Doctor realized in horror. "They're Cybermen, all of them. We've got to stop them getting out."
"Now who's missing the headline?" Missy wondered. "The Nethersphere. You know it's ever so funny, the people that live inside that think they've gone to heaven. Well… except that boy."
"What?" The Doctor repeated, confused, torn between looking at the globe and Missy.
"Oh yeah," Missy played with her hair, glancing at Arthur who looked up at the globe. "News flash! The Explorer's is up there with his grandparents." She gave a mockery smile. "Isn't that sweet?"
Arthur stares at her, confused. The Explorer? She didn't imply future him… did she? No, focus on now. "That's… that looks like a matrix data-slice," Arthur remarked, remembering another lesson from the Doctor a while ago.
"Imagine you could upload dying minds to that. Edit them. Rearrange them. Get rid of all those boring emotions. Ready to be re-downloaded. Meanwhile, you upgrade the bodies. Upload the mind, upgrade the body. Cybermen from cyberspace. Now, why has no-one ever thought of that before?"
"How did you get hold of Time Lord technology?" The Doctor demanded, getting Arthur right behind him. "Who are you?"
"You know who I am. I told you. You felt it. Surely you did."
"Two hearts," the Doctor realized after sensing it.
Arthur gaped. "You're a Time Lord?"
"Time Lady, please, boy," Missy rolls her eyes. "I'm old-fashioned."
"Which Time Lady?"
"The one you abandoned, Doctor. The one you left for dead. Didn't you ever think I'd find my way back?"
Arthur's blue eyes wide opened. "Clara. Claudia. We've got to get them!"
"Oh, Clara. Claudia. Clara. Claudia," Missy leered as the Doctor and Arthur ran into the lift that hadn't opened its door yet. "You know it's getting annoying hearing those names over and over. Not as annoying as Delaney or Sunny, but, meh," she shrugged. "I've turned the lift off, though."
"I presume you have stairs," the Doctor guessed.
"Well, I'm not a Dalek."
The Doctor sonics the door opens it as they're running to the stairs… and runs out of St Paul's Cathedral.
With confidence, Missy slowly walks to the shocked alien and human. "Oh, dear, Doctor, Explorer. Didn't you realise where you were?"
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"So that's basically what happened after I got here. I don't know where he is now, but he promised me we will see each other again," Danny finished his side of the story. Neither Claudia nor Clara reacts. "I'm sorry for being a jerk, Claudia. If I know about your circumstances any better…"
"Don't be. I'm also acting like a jerk to you," Claudia pointed out. "Mr. Pink, if you don't mind, we have several questions for you. For all we know, this is a trap."
"I'm ready. Ask anything."
Claudia stares at Clara, who sighs and nods her head. "First question…"
▪︎▪︎▪︎
The Doctor runs down the steps towards the river. "Get away from here! All of you, run!"
"Get away from here!" Arthur yelled, following the Doctor. "Run! All of you!"
"I'm sorry, everyone," Missy apologized while sitting. "Another ranting Scotsman in the street. I had no idea there was a match on."
"Get away, go!" The Doctor insisted.
"Stop shouting," she interjected. "Stop making a fuss. It's too late. All the graves of planet Earth are about to give birth. You two know the key strategic weakness of the human race? The dead outnumber the living."
"Who are you?" Arthur asked again, feeling more unease than ever.
"Oh, you know who I am," she giggles maniacally. "Well, in my past, you know who I am. But I go by a different name, back then. Now, I'm Missy."
Still confused, the Doctor asks again. "Who's Missy?"
Missy grumbled. "Please, try to keep up. Short for Mistress."
Arthur still looks confused, yet the Doctor slowly looks scared than usual as he eyes her.
"Well… I couldn't very well keep calling myself the Master, now could I?" She asked with a winning grin.
The Doctor backs away, more terrified than ever he felt before as all Cybermen marched closer to the surface.
And none of it helps as the Doctor realized Sunny is stuck with two dangerous enemies he faced before.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"He knows all the answers," Clara mumbled to Claudia. "We need something specific. Something only Danny knows."
"I think I know what that is," Claudia denoted. "Mr. Pink, have you ever had a nightmare of something sitting in your bed? Yes or no?"
"What…"
"Yes or no?"
"Yes! But why–"
Clara cut his words as she asked, "Your name, Danny… It was taken after your favorite soldier toy. Am I right?"
"How did you know that?... I… Ne..ve…to…"
Suddenly the connection got unstable.
"We lost the signal," Claudia cursed as she took her sonic pen. "Hang on…"
But her sonic pen captured something else. A warning signal.
"Clau…"
Clara looks at something behind her. Slowly, Claudia turns back, only to find a single Cybermen standing in the office.